Ron James bring­ing com­edy tour to Mar­itimes

Per­for­mance planned at de­Coste Cen­tre in Pic­tou Nov. 15

Co­me­dian Ron James is re­turn­ing to his old stomp­ing grounds to de­liver new ma­te­rial in venues across the Mar­itimes.

“How can you not love this work? You get to walk out on stage and sing your song for peo­ple who are ready to laugh,” said the famed co­me­dian from Glace Bay.

James lives with his fam­ily in Toronto and says that he’s ea­ger to come home.

“There’s def­i­nitely a taste for life there,” he said. “That’s one thing you for­get when you live in this fish­bowl of me­dia over­load in Toronto.”

Af­ter a three-year stint in Los An­ge­les, James re­turned to Canada in 2000 where his com­edy ca­reer re­ally took flight with the suc­cess­ful CBC show Black­fly.

The vet­eran funny man says that writ­ing new ma­te­rial is still a chal­lenge, but that has given him a good sense of where to find gold.

“You know how to read the land, like a ge­ol­o­gist. He might not find gold ev­ery time, but he knows how to go look­ing for it,” said James in a phone in­ter­view. “Talk about what you know, and what you feel. Talk about what’s wrong, and what can be made right.”

James is the first per­son to point out that he hasn’t got it all fig­ured out, but hopes that his blunt satire and down-to-earth style will ap­peal to ev­ery­one who comes out to see him.

“As the world gets in­creas­ingly heavy, it be­hooves the co­me­dian to carry the knap-sack for a while and lighten the road,” he said.

James will be per­form­ing at the de­Coste Cen­tre in Pic­tou on Nov. 15.

“If you want a ser­mon, go some­where else,” said James. “My man­date is the same as any per­former. Give them a show. I think that’s what keeps me go­ing. That, and a cou­ple of Red Bull.”

CON­TRIB­UTED

Ron James will be per­form­ing at the de­Coste Cen­tre in Pic­tou on Nov. 15.